Innovative Device Simulates Cataract Replacement Experience

WASHINGTON — Today, patients with cataracts can choose from several types of artificial lenses, which are surgically implanted in the eye to replace cloudy lenses that obstruct vision. A new vision simulator could help these patients see how the world would look with each type of implanted artificial lens, before they have surgery.

In The Optical Society's journal for high impact research, Optica, researchers in Spain describe and demonstrate their new hand-held device called the simultaneous vision simulator, or SimVis. With SimVis, patients can experience how a certain implanted lens would affect their vision by simply looking through the device.

Carlos Dorronsoro and Susana Marcos invented a vision simulator that aims to make it easier for cataract patients to choose an implantable lens. The researchers have tested the monocular device and are working on a binocular version that would simulate different types of lenses in each eye. Image Credit: Carlos Dorronsoro, Instituto de Optica, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas

“There are many different intraocular lenses in the market, which provide different balances of near and far vision,” said Aiswaryah Radhakrishan, researcher at the Instituto de Optica, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Spain. “We have discovered a way to simulate these intraocular lenses and demonstrated a prototype device that allows patients to test different solutions before surgery and choose the one that best suits their needs.”

Choosing the right lens
In the last decade, lens companies have designed intraocular lenses that not only replace the cloudy lens of the eye but can also correct the patient’s vision, to reduce the need for glasses. This correction is not perfect, however. The natural lens is stretched by muscles in the eye to change its shape, and thus its focal length, to shift from having up-close and far objects in sharp focus on the retina. Current implanted intraocular lenses do not have this capability to change shape like this. Instead, standard intraocular lenses are monofocal, i,e, they correct only far vision, which creates sharp vision for far-away objects but blurred vision for objects close by. Patients would then wear glasses to correct near. There are also newer multifocal lenses that focus both near and far objects onto the retina at the same time but with some loss of image quality and contrast for both near and far distances. The choices for monofocal, and, particular multifocal intraocular lenses keeps growing as more designs enter the market.

“Currently, the decision on which intraocular lens is implanted during cataract surgery is typically based on the explanations and experience of the surgeon,” said Carlos Dorronsoro, first author of the paper. “But it is difficult for patients to imagine the new visual experience provided by some of these lenses, therefore, it is very difficult to make the decision.”

The SimVis uses an optoelectronic tunable lens that changes shape in response to an applied electric current. To simulate multifocal lenses, the shape of this tunable lens can be switched so quickly that the resulting oscillations in focal positions can’t be perceived by human vision. A patient looking through the device would see near and far distances in focus at the same time, as well as experiencing the loss of image quality and contrast that comes with multifocal lenses.

The amount of time the plastic lens remains in a particular focus can be used to vary the lens power dedicated to that state. For example, a bifocal lens with 70 percent far and 30 percent near power is simulated by inducing the far state for 14 milliseconds and the near state for 6 milliseconds and then repeating this pattern continuously.

Testing the vision simulator
The researchers asked nine volunteers to use the SimVis to compare seven different lenses providing monofocal, bifocal or trifocal corrections while looking at a poster of a landscape, a laptop, a tablet, and a smartphone, with high contrast text and eye charts placed at different distances. Based on the lens simulations, the testers indicated clear preferences for certain corrections.

“The favored or rejected lenses were different for different testers, suggesting the need for this kind of simulation prior to surgery to customize the selection of lenses according to patient requirements,” said Dorronsoro. “Clinical use of the SimVis could provide an evidence-based way to assess the subjective needs and preferences of patients before they undergo cataract surgery.”

The researchers are now working on a binocular version of the SimVis that is smaller and can simulate different lenses in each eye. Appearing much like a virtual reality helmet, this new version of the SimVis will also be lighter and have a wider field of view than the device demonstrated in the Optica paper. The researchers are working to complete the necessary clinical validations so that the binocular version of SimVis can be sold commercially by next year.

About OpticaOptica is an open-access, online-only journal dedicated to the rapid dissemination of high-impact peer-reviewed research across the entire spectrum of optics and photonics. Published monthly by The Optical Society (OSA), Optica provides a forum for pioneering research to be swiftly accessed by the international community, whether that research is theoretical or experimental, fundamental or applied. Optica maintains a distinguished editorial board of more than 40 associate editors from around the world and is overseen by Editor-in-Chief Alex Gaeta, Columbia University, USA. For more information, visit Optica.

About The Optical Society
Founded in 1916, The Optical Society (OSA) is the leading professional organization for scientists, engineers, students and entrepreneurs who fuel discoveries, shape real-life applications and accelerate achievements in the science of light. Through world-renowned publications, meetings and membership initiatives, OSA provides quality research, inspired interactions and dedicated resources for its extensive global network of optics and photonics experts. For more information, visit osa.org/100.

Latest News

Each year, nearly 800,000 people in the U.S. experience a stroke, and almost 90 percent of those are ischemic strokes in which a clot cuts off blood flow to part of the brain. To prevent further injury, blood flow to the brain must be restored as quickly as possible. In a new study, researchers show that non-invasive optical sensors can provide clinicians with real-time feedback on whether clot busting treatments are restoring blood flow. The technique, which monitors blood flow and oxygen levels in the brain, could also reveal early warnings signs of neurological complications after a stroke.

Student Membership Pricing

OSA supports the next generation of researchers and engineers. Students pay just $20 USD for 1-year membership; $10 USD for students residing in an economically developing nation. Save even more with a 3-year term.

The Optical Society's (OSA) mission is to promote the generation, application and archiving of knowledge in optics and photonics and to disseminate this knowledge worldwide. The purposes of the Society are scientific, technical and educational. OSA’s commitment to excellence and long-term learning is the driving force behind all its initiatives.